Moments of Peace
by Trinxy
Summary: Sometimes she just wants to have moments – of silence and peace she cherishes as they come at random times. In her busy life, she rarely catches a moment to breathe, a moment to let her mind wonder. These moments belong to her.
1. Chapter 1  Moments of Peace

**Moments of peace**

_Sometimes she just wants to have moments – of silence and peace she cherishes as they come at random times. In her busy life, she rarely catches a moment to breathe, a moment to let her mind wonder. At these moments, she isn't thinking of gruesome murders and sneaky suspects. These moments belong to her._

_**Setting:**_The story takes place somewhere in 4th season. None of the secrets have come out and I will pretend they are not coming to the attention of either… at least not so soon. Keeping the theme light and fluffy.

_**Disclaimer:**_I don't own Castle – it's all Andrew Marlowe's field work.

_**Thank yous: **_I could have not done it without my three little helpers. Thank you Chris (ss-sunset), PenguinOfTroy and HippyDragonGirl. You rock, honestly. Best crictics and best ones to help their verbally impaired friend.

She just sits there, at her desk. Inhaling the scent of the vanilla latte that is on her table, the scent of papers and something that is familiar – distinctive to the 12th precinct. She doesn't know how to describe the smell of her workplace. It's a mix of everything – printing papers, old case files, something rotten, because somebody left the bathroom door ajar again. And there is a scent of men's perfume. Some years ago, it was only Esposito's very masculine deodorant hanging around between the desks. But now, she smells a different scent. It's light but oh so delicious. Its a mix of something old, something fresh and something new. Something that says high class but casual at the same time. The lingering scent that is only distinctive to him - Castle.

She smiles. She likes just to sit there, in the room filled with soft light from her desk-lamp. Inhale the familiar scents and she feels so good. She grabs her vanilla latte that has still lingering warmth in it. She raises it to her lips and closes her eyes, taking a deep breath before she takes a sip of that yummy goodness that is inside there. She didn't used to like the lattes. They were too weak, hardly gave any caffeine to her system, the sustenance she really needed to live through another day. But ever since he started bringing this delicious goodness to her, she has gotten used to it. She really can't imagine her day starting without her latte and without him. She swallows and opens her eyes. She looks in front of the murder board which is filled with many photographs of a gruesome crime-scene and suspects. She isn't really looking at the murder board though, but the man in front of the board.

He is sitting on the edge of her desk, deeply in thought. He looks a little bit tired; his blue eyes are half-way closed. His hair is messy like he had combed his hands through it, which he had probably done a few times. His black jacket is a little bit rumpled and his blue button-up has a little coffee stain on the collar. She smiles looking at him. His eyes are concentrated on the murder board, he doesn't see her staring at him. After all, she is sitting almost behind him. They had been both in deep thought for a while now, not saying anything for over 5 minutes. She loves those silent moments that give her an opportunity to breathe, to straighten her mind and calm it down. To give her a chance to have a break from her daily existence. At the moment, she doesn't think about the crime that they are supposed to be solving or the victims that were dismembered, their bodies modified in horrible ways. No, she doesn't think about those things. She is thinking of him. The feeling of him there with her, day after day. The scent of him that surrounds her daily; the scent that makes her feel at ease and comfortable. Thinking of his presence at the precinct and how it lighted up her day when he came from the elevator carrying their drinks. "Their…" now that was a thought for her.

She smiles. She likes the sound of it. Their. At that moment she feels his eyes on her and she raises her eyes to meet his blue ones. She smiles at him, giving a little shy one. His eyes, serious and sleepy before, turn into smiling ones, full of attention and sparkle. He gives her a smile back, small one, but full of care and attention. Then as she studies his features a question forms on his face and he asks out loud, disrupting the peace and quiet they had formed there.

"What are you thinking about?"

She stirs from her peaceful slumber as a serious look crosses her face before a smile creeps back.

"Nothing in particular," she answers, smiling back at him.

"There has to be some good thoughts there to make you smile like this," he continues with a glint in his eye and a smirk on his face.

A smile crosses her face when she looks at him and nods. She slightly shakes her head as she thinks of course he would not be satisfied with a short answer. He never has been, always needs to know more. She leans back in her chair and smirks again, going into a flirty mocking mode. She doesn't want to get back to the murder yet. She lets the bubble of peacefulness remain there for few more moments.

"Wouldn't you want to know," she answers back with a low voice and grin on her face, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth.

He inhales sharply.

"Oh, my dear detective, now I MUST know what you were thinking," he eyes her suspiciously with a smirk on his face.

She releases her lip, grinning at him.

"Nuh-uh, Castle, not gonna happen," she says and brings her eyes down to her almost empty coffee cup. She grabs the cup, trying to deflect the attention from his questions. She brings it to her lips and takes a small sip, finishing up her vanilla latte. She sees him shift his position, turning his whole body to her direction. She looks back to him again.

"Oh, it's happening, Detective!" he says with a note of certainty in his voice. "I definitely want to know the thing that makes you smile, like you did before."

She smiles again, looking straight to his eyes.

"Oh really?" she says with fake surprise in her voice. God, this man is not giving up, is he?

"Yes." He stresses the word. "Really." He continues to stare back at her. He lowers his voice. "If I knew what you were thinking about, I could use the information to make you smile again," he leans in to her. She inhales audibly when he gets closer. He notices it. He notices that she just stays there, not turning away, not backing up. Looking directly into his eyes, her stare almost daring him to do something.

She knows that she should say something… something that would end the flirtation and could get their attention back to the case. But somehow she can't bring herself to do it. His stare feels too intense this time, it feels like he sees through her, like he sees her soul. Her breath quickens a bit and she decides to stare back at him, almost daring.

"Wouldn't it get old if I am always smiling?" she shoots back.

He leans toward her more, slightly towering over her as she sits.

"No," he says, his face suddenly turning serious. Only the sparkle is left in his eyes.

"I wouldn't mind to see you smile all the time," he says with all seriousness.

She angles her head to the right, like trying to figure something out, and swallows. His stare gets more intense, their eyes locked. She cannot seem to move her eyes from his, it's hypnotizing and powerful. She tries to move back when he leans even more closer.

He feels her shifting under his stare, but she isn't taking eyes off his eyes. He sees her swallowing lightly. Suddenly he feels the need to look at her lips, her neck. He lowers his eyes to her lips which are now opened slightly. He can see her breathing a little bit faster. He lowers his eyes to her neck and he sees her swallowing again. Then suddenly he looks up again, into her eyes. He sees that they have gotten a shade darker, but the intensity of the stare hasn't diminished. He feels her looking at him, wonder in her eyes, trying to understand what he is doing.

As he gets closer she feels the urgency to back up a bit, to get away from his intense stare. But that intensity of their stare is the thing that stops her from moving. As they are looking at each other, she sees him lowering his eyes to her lips. She feels the sudden need for air as she opens her mouth lightly and inhales fast. His eyes are travelling to her neck and lingering there for a moment. She inhales audibly this time and swallows, her body doing it without her conscious permission. His eyes snap back to her eyes again. She sees his blue eyes are not so light blue anymore. His pupils are bigger and his blue eyes seem darker, deeper and more passionate than before. She feels him coming closer again. She can't bring herself to stop him. As he is only a few inches away from her face, when she unconsciously decides to close her eyes.

He is amazed at the intensity of their stare. It is so inviting, drawing him in. Her hazel eyes are like a black hole, drawing him closer, sucking him in. He is inching a bit closer again and sees her close her eyes, her mouth slightly ajar. Her tongue sneaks out as she moistens her lips for a second. He feels flares of arousal running through his body as he sees it. There she is, lounged back in her chair, eyes closed, lips so inviting, waiting on him to make his move. He doesn't need any other invitation. He closes the small distance remaining between them. Closing his eyes as his lips are suddenly touching hers, slowly and tenderly as a feather.

Behind her closed eyes, suddenly a flare of fear sparks. "What are they are doing?" her brain suddenly starts to work. She tries to moisten her lips before saying something. But before she can open her eyes and vocalize her concerns, she feels a soft touch of his lips on hers. Soft and tentative, like a feather ghosting over her lips. That small touch makes her lips tingle in excitement causing flares of heat to surge through her body.

He is mesmerized by how this tiny touch feels so good. He continues with light touches, feathery kisses across her lips. She stays still as he moves his lips over hers. The hands that are lightly positioned at her shoulders start moving – one behind her head, into her hair, the other travelling down from her shoulder. As he opens his mouth to taste her lips with his tongue he feels a sharp intake of breath from her and her hands start to crawl up his chest.

When his hands start to move from her shoulders she feels him breathing in sweet oxygen and opening his mouth. She feels the anticipation growing in her and she starts to lose the notion of where they are and what they are doing. At this moment she doesn't care anymore, she only feels – his lips ghosting over hers. So sweet and so warm, making her feel all kinds of things.

_BING!_

A sound echoes over the precinct floor. The elevator announcing it's arrival as they both freeze. He pulls away with a little jerk, both opening their eyes at the same time. Luckily the elevator doors are slow and he has time to pull away from her. He straightens up and sits back to his chair in front of the murder board. With his slightly flushed face he turns back to her, observing her actions.

At first, when she hears the _BING!_, she jerks back from his lips, opening her eyes and seeing dark blue ones staring back to her. Without thinking he is already pulling back and sitting down in "his chair" next to her desk. She is still under the influence of those feelings the little kiss had aroused. Her mind reeling and lips tingling, blood rushing everywhere in her body. With a flushed and confused face she raises her hand and combing through her hair, averts her gaze back to the murder board. She feels his eyes on her.

As the elevator doors open at last and they hear Esposito saying something to Ryan, with a tone that denies any argument. The boys step in to the room from the elevator as the doors open fully.

"How far have you gotten with the suspect list?" Ryan asks, when they get closer to Beckett's desk. Preoccupied with the paper in his hands Ryan doesn't seem to notice the two flushed faces in front of them. Esposito, on the other hand, seems to notice them almost immediately.

Kate feels her cheeks go even more red as the two men walk closer to her desk. He looks at Castle, who is still staring at her. His eyes seem to have a mix of surprise and amusement in them. She sighs and looks to Ryan as he is asking something from them. She isn't really listening him, her mind still preoccupied with thoughts of him and the kiss, so she misses Ryan's question.

They both are silent, both preoccupied with their red cheeks and their reeling minds, they don't answer. It seems more than suspicious to both male detectives. Esposito, looking from Beckett's face to Castle's, starts to wonder.

"What's going on with you two?" they hear Esposito ask.

**A/N: I am sorry if I had any mistakes in this story. You see, English isn't exactly my language that I speak daily – that's why my story may have some weird sentences and some simple mistakes in it. Hope you don't mind. This is my first CASTLE fanfiction I have written, I really hope that you find it interesting at least. If you like the story, please give back some feedback to me, what should I do to make the story better.**

**I am not sure yet if I am continuing the story. I have some lingering ideas where to go with it, but if there is no interest – then I see no point. It depends on the feedback.**

**And to everyone who takes time to read my story – THANK YOU!**


	2. Chapter 2  Pieces of Heat

Chapter 2 **"Pieces of heat"**

_**Disclaimer:**I don't own Castle – it's all Andrew Marlowe's field work._

_**Thank yous: **I am really grateful for ChrisS (ss-sunset), HippyDragonGirl and PenguinOfTroy for reading my work and correcting it. I could have not done it without you guys. And the people in CastleTV chatroom - i wouldn't have done it without you either. You encouraged me and told me I could pull this off. _

_I hope you, people, like my work!_

Kate throws a baffled look at Esposito, her eyes full of surprise. In a slightly shaky voice she asks, "Why do you think there is something going on?" She tries to be as serious as possible "We have been staring at this murder board for an hour, trying to find any clues, but," she sighs. "Nothing so far..."

"Yeah," Esposito nods unconvinced. "That's why you are both blushing right now, right?" He smiles.

"I'm not blushing!" she denies, eyes widening, the redness of her cheeks continues to grow.

Ryan hums. "Yeah right, you are going to have a nice tomato shade to your face pretty soon," he says and can't contain the laughter bubbling inside of him and letting one giggle loose.

"Yes, you are," Castle smiles to her as well. "You look cute with that shade of red by the way," he says with a grin, looking at her intensely.

"You ain't better, Writer-boy," Esposito laughs. "You are as red as her," he says.

"What?" Castle argues, "No, I'm not." He puffs. Beckett peeks at him, seeing him struggle. She smirks silently. "Well, okay, but its just hot in here. Have you seen the temperatures outside lately. Its hot for this time of year" he says reaching the collar of his shirt and starts to fan himself with it.

Esposito smirks "Yes, of course, that IS the reason why you are blushing then?" he pauses "Sticking with your story?"

"What different story could there BE?" he asks wide eyed and fake hurt in his voice for Esposito not believing him.

"ANYWAYS" Beckett states coming between the men. "You both came here to tell us something, what was it?"

Esposito glares at her, shaking his head "We found out that the trace from Susan's call list leads to potential suspect" he shares the find with his co-workers. Eyeing at Castle he adds "Don't think you are off the hook that easily by the way!"

Beckett huffs with annoyance "Who is it then?"

Ryan takes a paper he previously had set to the table and gives it to Beckett. "See those numbers there with the pink marker?" tracing the numbers with his finger watching Beckett nods. "Look at the calling time for those numbers."

Beckett's eyes widen..."Ooh, it's exactly the same time as the neighbour told he heard yelling at Susan's appartment!" she is now obviously exited at the boys findings. "Can you trace the caller's ID?"

"Already on it!" answers Ryan, taking the paper from her hand and heading to his desk.

Esposito don't follow his partner right away and stays there, turning his body towards Castle.

"What did you two find out while we were downstairs?" he asks, curiosity in his voice.

Beckett sighs "Not much, we made a list of possible suspects" she points at the right end of the murder board where the list of possible names is. "If we could get that ID, maybe we can find out which one of the suspects made those calls".

Esposito eyes the board for some time and points out one suspect "You can scratch him off this list, one of the neighbours saw him leaving hours before the time of death."

"Thanks, Espo" Beckett says, rising from her chair, walking pass Castle and Esposito, takes eraser and wipes the name off the list.

"Great..." Castle sighs "Only 7 suspects to go" he covers his face with his hands and peeking through his fingers, yawns.

Kate looks at her watch. "Castle, its 7 PM, you CAN go home, you know. I heard you had dinner plans with your family".

"No, no... I wanna stay..." he starts to argue but yawns again. "Sorry. I just had a sleepless night" looking at Kate who is staring him at this point.

"Suit yourself. But I won't be here long, either" she says turning to Esposito, "Espo, can you help out Ryan with the number" she asks. "After you find it, call it a night. It's late, we can't close this case today anyway".

"As you wish" says Esposito and starts walking back to his desk throwing a suspicious glance at Beckett.

Castle's interest has peaked "Oh, your heading out early today, detective?"

"I wouldn't say 7 pm is early Castle" she answers.

"Well, when it comes to you, anything above 9 pm is early" he states "You have plans for tonight or just going home?" trying to find out her plans for the evening.

"No, no plans for tonight" she says as she walks back to her chair. "I am just tired and this case..." she points at murder board "...isn't going anywhere today, I might as well go home and relax". She grabs her coat and starts putting it on slowly.

Castle watches her for a minute as she gathers her things and cleans up the mess from her table. As he stands up from Beckett's desk he hears Esposito cheer "YESS!" from his table. Castle and Beckett both look in the direction of Ryan's and Esposito's desks in unison. Esposito looks back at them and nods.

"We found the owner of the number" he explains with a smile on his face. He writes something down to the paper in front of him. Then stands up and walks to the murder board and attaches the name and the number under the "Suspects" corner. It reads "Walter McHallis".

"Thank you, Espo" Kate says. "Now we have something to investigate in the morning. I think its high time you call it a night too." In the corner of her eye she sees Ryan bouncing up from his chair and grabbing his coat in hurry, causing her to smile.

"Seems that your partner is really eager to go home anyway" she glances back to Espo. He turns around, sees Ryan in hurry and lets out a puff of laughter.

"Yeah" he smiles "Apparently he and his wife are having an" his hands rise up to do the quoting sign ""A Night of Adventures" tonight, I am not sure I even wanna know what that means" he smirks.

Both Castle and Beckett wince at the same time. Castle says out loud "Come to think of it, I don't want to know either."

"Oh Castle, since when you don't want to know about the kinky stuff?" she says mockingly, smiling at Castle.

Castle gasps as some images going through his mind and his face gets serious "I wasn't even thinking that!" he shrieks and continues, looking her, false disapproval on his face "Get your mind out of the gutter, detective" he shudders, but a smile crawling back to his face.

"Yea right" Kate laughs. "Okay. I'm heading out now" she says, looking at Esposito. Then her glance travels to Castle. "Wanna carpool?" she asks tentatively.

Castle's eyes widen not passing the invite up. He wants to use this opportunity as a way to spend some more time with Beckett.

"Yes, that would be wonderful" he says. He grabs his phone from Beckett's desk and gets himself ready to leave.

Esposito is halfway back to his desk when the duo starts heading to the elevator. "Night, Espo!" he hears Kate's voice from the near vicinity of the elevator. "Night" he mumbles back as he sees them entering the elevator. He flips open his phone and dials a number. "Hey Lanie" he says after somebody on the other end of the phone picks up.

Meanwhile, Beckett and Castle have reached the elevator. They are standing side by side as Beckett pushes the button for the ground floor. She steps back to Castle as soon as the doors close. He stiffens and straightens himself as his eyes travel from the doors to the wall of the elevator.

"You okay?" Beckett asks as she sees Castle being tad bit uncomfortable.

"Mmm..." he hums "I don't know" he answers honestly.

Her face gets serious as he answers back and she cannot help but worry.

"What's wrong, Castle?". She steps closer and looks into his eyes. There's confusion mixed with amusement in his eyes. Now, she is confused too.

"Nothing really" he answers looking back to her face, his blue eyes bright "I am just thinking here".

"About what?" she doesn't understand and steps a tiny bit closer to him.

"...About what happened upstairs" he says out loud looking at her with intensity, wanting to see her reaction to his words.

"Oh..." she stammers and her cheeks suddenly start to change colours from normal skin tone to sweet rosy blush.

He opens his mouth to say something, but at that moment the doors of the elevator open to the lobby and there are some officers in the ground floor wanting to get in the elevator. They hurry to the lobby and start to walk out of the building. By the time they reach for Beckett's Crown Vic her cheeks have a sweet strawberry shade. Castle looks at her, amusement on his face - while Beckett is trying to avoid his gaze and not to look at him. As he opens the passenger side door he can't help but tease.

"Why, Beckett, are you blushing?" he asks looking at her smiling while getting inside the car.

"No, I am just feeling hot" she answers after throwing him a quick glare and then teasing him back. "I recall it was you who said it was too hot for this time of year, before" but her cheeks remain red.

They start buckling their seat belts but Castle doesn't let it go quite yet pushing a little more.

"Yeah" he nods, looking at her, trying see her reactions "Are you sure it isn't because of memories of our kiss?" he wants to know and his mouth curves into a smile when she starts blushing more, if its even possible.

"I... I..." she starts to answer back but not looking to his face. She realises she don't know what to say. The reality is - she was thinking of that kiss. She was thinking of how good his lips felt against her. And how she really wanted to do that again. But there was no way she could admit this to him at the moment and rise his ego to the new heights.

"Kate..." she hears him say softly. She turns her head to his direction and find herself looking straight to his eyes. Something has changed in their dynamic. Suddenly she feels a little bit nervous and her palms starts to sweat a little bit. Her face isn't helping her either, because the more intensely he looks at her, the more redder her cheeks go.

"I..." she starts again, not knowing how to end the sentence. She sees amusement crawling to his face. As she starts to say something to him again he stops her.

"No, don't say anything" he states. Kate frowns but as she sees him unbuckling his belt and starting to lean closer, her heart rate goes up a notch. She wants to say something to stop him, but as her hands flies up to stop him - he catches it with ease and pulls her closer to him. His eyes never leaving her face as he gets closer to her.

"You don't have to say anything. I know what you are thinking" he speaks with a low voice. He is looking at her eyes, one hand holding her wrist, the other supporting his weight on her seat. He then lets go of the wrist and slides his hand behind her neck.

He whispers, his face only an inch from her face "I know you want this as badly as I do" and with that he closes the distance, claiming her lips again. He feels her tense at the first touch but after a second, she is leaning to his touch, sighing to his mouth feeling the tension leave her body. He starts to move his lips against her, feeling the delicious friction.

'It can't go any better' he thinks but then she starts moving her lips and he looses the ability to think. They share several open mouth kisses, testing and trying before she feels his tongue darting out, seeking entrance. She gladly opens her mouth to him and he doesn't miss a beat. Sliding the tongue to her mouth he cannot help but sigh happily.

The feelings in her body are overwhelming her. His talented tongue is chasing her tongue, friction on their lips and in their mouths are sending waves of pleasure everywhere in their bodies. By that time, one of her hand is crawling up his chest, the other has hooked itself to his hair, pulling him closer with iron grip. They discover their newly found closeness as the world around them ceases to exist.

As Castle starts to lean in even closer, they hear a wolf whistle from outside the car. They pull apart abruptly, their mouths disconnecting with a audible pop. Beckett turns her face to the sound of the whistle as Castle does the same. They see Esposito grinning at them and then giving them "thumbs up" sign. He turns around and starts walking to his car, parked few cars away from hers. What is going on outside starts to come back and Beckett remembers - they are still in front of the 12th Precinct, in her car. She huffs out a breath of laugh and tries to even out her breathing. Castle is still holding his hand around her neck. She turns her face back to Castle, not knowing what to say. He smiles to her and leans in for a quick kiss. Their lips reconnecting again for a brief second before she feels him letting her go. She opens her eyes again when she hears him getting back to his seat.

She feels his eyes on her again and she smiles. She stays quiet, not knowing what to say again. 'God, this is getting frustrating' she thinks.

"Speechless?" he asks with smile on his face as his hand reaches out to her hand.

"Yeah" she answers when she finds her voice. She smiles at him looking down at their connected hands. He tugs her hand and her glance goes back to his face.

"Let's go to my loft, my mother said that she was cooking dinner for me and Alexis. I am not sure how it will going to turn out, but I would be happy to feed you" he says and flashes his smile at her.

"Thanks Castle..." she stammers out "...but... " she starts but he doesn't let her finish.

"No, buts, Kate" he states "You are coming with me" he smiles, tugging her hand again. "I want to kiss you again" he adds.

She lets outs a breath of laughter "That's going to convince me, huh?" she asks, staring at him, smiling.

"Of course!" he laughs.

"You are … " she starts but Castle doesn't let her finish again.

"Handsome, wonderful, a very good kisser..." he adds with a sultry tone, looking at her, now grinning widely.

"... full of himself?" she finishes, laughing out loud.

"Come on, detective" he laughs "A little dinner won't kill you" he adds.

She lets out a sigh with fake annoyance. "Okay, Castle. I'll come"

She starts to move her hand back to wheel but finds she can't because Castle is still holding it.

"If you would let go of my hand for a second we might get there a little bit faster" she says to him and smiles.

He looks at their joined hands, then raises her hands to his lips and kisses it lightly before letting it go.

"Let's get going then, before my mother manages to cause a catastrophe in my kitchen." he says as Beckett is starting the car. She glances him for a moment and smiles.

"Let's go" she answers quietly as they are joining the traffic.

**A/N: I am sorry if I had any mistakes in this story. You see, English isn't exactly my language that I speak daily – that's why my story may have some weird sentences and some simple mistakes in it. Hope you don't mind. This is my first CASTLE fanfiction I have written, I really hope that you find it interesting at least. **

**I think the story is now complete. I know you may want more of this story, but since i am living a very busy life, you would be waiting the updates for a long time. So, I think its better to finish this up here, sooner than later :)**

**I really, really hope you liked it. **

**Please review! :)**


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